CVE-2023-21608Adobe Acrobat Reader DC resetForm Use-After-Free Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 59.4%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.9% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 10 Oct 2023
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 22.003.20282 (and earlier), 22.003.20281 (and earlier) and 20.005.30418 (and earlier) are affected by a Use After Free vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Adobe Acrobat and Reader Use-After-Free Vulnerability.
- Added
- 10 Oct 2023
- Fix due (US federal)
- 31 Oct 2023
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 10 Oct 2023.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Timeline
ID reserved
By adobe
- 48 days later
· 48 days later
Published
- 9 months later
· 9 months later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 2 years later
· 2 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| adobeCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 59.4% · top 0.9% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
- affected unspecified – ≤ 20.005.30418
- affected unspecified – ≤ 22.003.20282
- affected unspecified – ≤ 22.003.20281
- affected unspecified – ≤ None
References
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2023-25775 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2023-21608)Record last updated .